MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2006 Regular Session
To: Municipalities; Conservation and Water Resources
By: Representative Franks
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-33, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO ADD RECYCLING TO THE AUTHORIZATION TO PARTICIPATE IN REGIONAL SOLID WASTE DISPOSAL AND RECOVERY SYSTEMS; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-101, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE LEGISLATIVE INTENT OF SUCH FUND; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-203, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE INTENT FOR THE NONHAZARDOUS SOLID WASTE PLANNING ACT; TO AMEND SECTION 17-17-217, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE PURPOSE OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION TRUST FUND; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-11, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE MULTIMEDIA POLLUTION PREVENTION ACT; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-13, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY THE STATUS OF POLLUTION ACTIVITIES; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-15, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF RECYCLING PROGRAMS AND SOURCE REDUCTION PROGRAMS; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-17, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO PROMOTE THE RECYCLING INDUSTRY; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-19, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, RELATING TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF A WASTE MINIMIZATION AWARENESS PROGRAM; TO AMEND SECTION 49-31-21, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO CLARIFY FILING REQUIREMENTS OF GENERATORS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE FILING; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 17-17-33, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-33. Counties, municipal and private companies are hereby authorized to participate in applicable approved regional solid waste disposal, recycling and recovery systems.
SECTION 2. Section 17-17-101, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-101. It is the intent of the Legislature by the passage of Sections 17-17-101 through 17-17-135 to authorize municipalities to acquire, own and lease a project for the purpose of promoting the construction and installation of projects for the sale, collection, treatment, processing, reprocessing, generation, distribution, recycling, elimination, or disposal of solid and hazardous waste products, as hereinafter defined, by inducing manufacturing and industrial enterprises, qualified persons, firms, or corporations to locate and construct said projects in this state. It is intended that each project be self-liquidating. Sections 17-17-101 through 17-17-135 shall be construed to conform with its intent. Except as otherwise provided for projects to recycle solid waste products, the powers hereby conferred upon the municipalities shall be exercised only after such municipality has obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity from the Mississippi Board of Economic Development as provided in Sections 57-1-19, 57-1-21, 57-1-23 and 57-1-27; provided, however, that if a project is constructed solely with revenue bonds the board shall not be required to adjudicate that there are adequate property values and suitable financial conditions so that the total bonded indebtedness of the municipality, solely for the purposes authorized by Sections 17-17-101 through 17-17-135, shall not exceed twenty percent (20%) of the total assessed valuation of the property in the municipality. The powers conferred in this section to municipalities for projects to recycle or sell recycled solid waste products shall be exercised only after such project has been approved by the Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority.
SECTION 3. Section 17-17-203, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-203. (1) The Legislature finds that:
(a) Over one million five hundred thousand (1,500,000) tons of municipal solid waste are generated in Mississippi each year of which an estimated fifty thousand (50,000) tons is not even collected for disposal;
(b) On the average, each Mississippian currently discards approximately four (4) pounds of municipal solid waste each day;
(c) There are currently ninety-eight (98) commercial nonhazardous solid waste management facilities in this state;
(d) Most of the permitted sanitary landfill capacity will be used within the next ten (10) years;
(e) Monthly household collection fees have increased approximately fifteen percent (15%) in the last year. The costs of nonhazardous solid waste management will increase significantly due to decreased landfill capacity and more stringent federal requirements for nonhazardous solid waste management facilities. More stringent federal requirements may force an estimated eighty percent (80%) of the existing permitted facilities to close;
(f) Mississippians are spending approximate Fifty-five Million Dollars ($55,000,000.00) on nonhazardous solid waste management;
(g) Inefficient and improper methods of managing nonhazardous solid waste create hazards to the public health, cause pollution of air and water resources, constitute a waste of natural resources, have an adverse effect on land values and create public nuisances;
(h) Problems of nonhazardous solid waste management have become a matter statewide in scope and necessitate state action to assist local governments in identifying, financing, and improving methods and processes for more efficient management and collection of nonhazardous solid waste; and
(i) The economic and population growth of our state and improvements in the standard of living enjoyed by our population have resulted in a rising tide of unwanted and discarded materials.
(2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the provisions of Sections 17-17-201 through 17-17-235 shall:
(a) In order to protect the public health, safety and well-being of its citizens and to protect and enhance the quality of its environment, institute and maintain a comprehensive program for state and local solid waste management planning which will assure that solid waste management facilities * * * meet the needs of the state and its localities, whether publicly or privately operated, are planned, developed and constructed in a timely manner;
(b) Reaffirm the state's policy of minimizing the amount of nonhazardous solid waste being generated and managed at facilities in the state and the commitment to reach the state's goal of reducing and minimizing waste generated in Mississippi by a minimum of twenty-five percent (25%) by January 1, 1996;
(c) Provide that a county shall have the power and its duty shall be to ensure the availability of adequate permitted management capacity for the nonhazardous solid waste which is generated within its boundaries;
(d) Establish that a municipality shall have the power and its duty shall be to assure the proper and adequate collection, transportation and storage of the nonhazardous solid waste generated or present within the area served by such municipality and in cooperation with the county, to assure adequate capacity for the processing, recycling and disposal of nonhazardous solid waste generated or present within the area served by such municipality; and
(e) Reaffirm that the state shall have the power and its duty shall be to regulate the management of nonhazardous solid waste and ensure that all nonhazardous solid waste management planning results in strategies for environmentally sound nonhazardous solid waste management systems.
(3) It is further the intent of the Legislature that, in light of the impending issuance of the Final Subtitle D regulations, the existing laws and regulations with regard to permitted sanitary landfills should be consistently enforced.
SECTION 4. Section 17-17-217, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
17-17-217. (1) There is created in the State Treasury a fund designated as the Environmental Protection Trust Fund, to be administered by the executive director of the department.
(2) The Commission on Environmental Quality shall promulgate rules and regulations for the administration of the fund and for a system of priorities for any related projects or programs eligible for funding from the fund.
(3) The commission shall utilize any funds in the Environmental Protection Fund only to defray the costs of the Department of Environmental Quality for administering the nonhazardous waste program, including the development of the state nonhazardous solid waste management plan as authorized by law. The commission may also use the fund to accomplish the purposes of the multimedia pollution prevention program created under Section 49-31-11.
(4) Expenditures may be made from the fund upon requisition by the executive director of the department only for the purposes provided in this section.
(5) The fund shall be treated as a special trust fund. Interest earned on the principal in the fund shall be credited by the department to the fund.
(6) The fund may receive monies from any available public or private source, including, but not limited to, collection of fees, interest, grants, taxes, public and private donations, petroleum violation escrow funds or refunds, and appropriated funds.
SECTION 5. Section 49-31-11, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-11 (1) There is hereby created in the Department of Environmental Quality, the Mississippi Multimedia Pollution Prevention Program, herein referred to as "program," for the following purposes:
(a) To compile, organize and make available for distribution information on pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures;
(b) To sponsor and conduct conferences and workshops on pollution prevention and recycling;
(c) To facilitate and promote the transfer of pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures among business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities;
(d) To provide funds, as may be appropriated or otherwise made available therefor, to business, industry, academic institutions, private organizations and governmental entities:
(i) To conduct demonstrations or pilot programs utilizing innovative pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures;
(ii) To defray costs of basic and applied research on pollution prevention and recycling; and
(iii) To subsidize costs of conducting pollution prevention potential analyses and studies, and developing, purchasing and implementing pollution prevention and recycling technologies and procedures or for other related purposes;
(e) To develop the necessary programs, information and materials:
(i) To collect data to assist in establishing program priorities and evaluation of the progress of pollution prevention and recycling;
(ii) To train business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities to promote and provide information about pollution prevention and recycling practices and their applicability; * * *
(iii) To establish and implement waste exchange programs;
(iv) To prioritize current state grant funding assistance for local government recycling;
(v) To provide technical assistance programs specific to the development of businesses that recycle;
(vi) To produce an annual report that shall be available to the public with information on the amount of unrecycled products within the state;
(f) To increase public education and public awareness of waste management issues;
(g) To provide pollution prevention and recycling technical assistance to industries, businesses and local governments; and
(h) To participate in state, federal and industrial networks of individuals and groups actively involved in pollution prevention and recycling activities and promotion.
(2) The Commission on Environmental Quality may adopt, modify, repeal and promulgate, after due notice and hearing, and where not otherwise prohibited by federal or state law, to make exceptions to and grant exemptions and variances from, and to enforce rules and regulations implementing or effectuating the powers and duties of the commission under this chapter.
(3) The Commission on Environmental Quality shall coordinate recycling activities among municipalities and local governing authorities and promote pollution prevention, recycling, reuse of wastes, in lieu of treatment and disposal of such wastes.
SECTION 6. Section 49-31-13, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-13. (1) * * * The department shall complete an annual comprehensive study of the status of pollution prevention and recycling activities in Mississippi. The study shall address, but not be limited to, the following:
(a) The types and quantities of wastes generated in the state, the existing system for management of wastes, and pollution prevention and recycling efforts to date in the state;
(b) The advisability, feasibility and potential impacts of waste stream reduction through statutory restraints;
(c) The identification of key business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities which should receive priorities in technical assistance;
(d) The establishment of the program priorities, objectives, missions and goals for pollution prevention and recycling in the state, including a methodology for assessing the efficiency and effectiveness of the program in attaining program goals and objectives;
(e) The development of a methodology to assess progress in minimizing waste, preventing pollution and recycling in the state; and
(f) Any other information deemed necessary by the department to carry out the purposes of this chapter.
(2) The annual study shall be presented to the Chairman of the Conservation and Water Resources Committee of the Mississippi House of Representatives and the Environmental Protection, Conservation and Water Resources Committee of the Mississippi Senate by the second day of each legislative session.
SECTION 7. Section 49-31-15, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-15. It shall be the duty of each state agency, the judicial branch of state government, the state institutions of higher learning and community colleges * * * to:
(a) Establish a program, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Finance and Administration, for the collection of recyclable materials as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, generated in state offices throughout the state.
(b) Provide procedures for collecting and storing recyclable materials, containers for storing recyclable materials and contractual arrangements with buyers of recyclable materials.
(c) Evaluate the amount of recyclable materials recycled and make all necessary modifications to the recycling program to ensure that recyclable materials, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, are effectively and practically recycled.
(d) Establish and implement, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality and the Department of Finance and Administration, a source reduction program for materials, as determined by the Department of Environmental Quality, used in the course of agency operations. The program shall be designed and implemented to achieve the maximum feasible source reduction of waste as a result of agency operations.
SECTION 8. Section 49-31-17, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-17. (1) The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority shall assist and actively promote the recycling industry in the state. Assistance and promotion of the recycling industry shall include, but is not limited to:
(a) Identification and analysis, in cooperation with the Department of Environmental Quality, of components of the state's recycling industry and present and potential markets for recyclable materials in the state or other states;
(b) Provision of information on the availability and benefits of using recycled materials to business, industry, academic institutions and governmental entities within the state;
(c) Distribution of any material prepared in implementing this section to business, industry, academic institutions, governmental entities and the general public upon request; and
(d) Active promotion of the present markets and development of the potential markets of recyclable materials through the resources of the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Development Authority.
(2) By December 31, 2006, the Mississippi Development Authority shall assist the Task Force on Recycling in preparing a report assessing the recycling industry and recyclable materials markets in the state for the Mississippi Legislature.
* * *
SECTION 9. Section 49-31-19, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-19. (1) On or before July 1, 2007, the Department of Education with the approval of the Department of Environmental Quality is directed to develop or select curriculum, including materials and resource guides, for a waste minimization awareness program at the elementary and secondary levels of education.
(2) In order to orient students and their families to the minimization of waste and to encourage the participation of schools, communities and families in waste minimization programs, the school board of each school district in the state shall provide a program of student instruction in the minimization of waste materials * * *. The instruction shall be provided at both the elementary and secondary levels of education.
SECTION 10. Section 49-31-21, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
49-31-21. (1) * * * The department shall require waste minimization plans to be provided by each generator of hazardous waste who is regulated as a large quantity generator or a small quantity generator under Mississippi hazardous waste management regulations and each facility operator required to file a report under Section 313 of EPCRA. The generators and facility operators shall provide a plan for each site where waste is generated or chemicals are released.
(2) Waste minimization plans for large quantity generators and for facility operators required to file a report under Section 313 of EPCRA, shall include, at a minimum:
(a) A written policy describing ownership and management support for pollution prevention and waste minimization and implementation of the plan;
(b) The scope and objectives of the plan, including the evaluation of technologies, procedures and personnel training programs to ensure waste minimization;
(c) An explanation and documentation of waste minimization efforts completed or in progress before the first reporting date;
(d) An analysis of waste streams, and identification of opportunities to eliminate waste generation. The analysis shall include review of individual processes and facilities and other activities where wastes may be generated, evaluation of data on the types, amounts and hazardous and toxic constituents of waste generated, and potential waste minimization techniques applicable to those wastes;
(e) An identification of waste management costs;
(f) An identification of employee awareness and training programs to involve employees in waste minimization planning and implementation to the maximum extent feasible;
(g) The establishment of performance goals for the minimization of wastes which shall be expressed in numeric terms, to the extent practicable.
(3) The department shall develop appropriate, but less stringent, requirements for waste minimization plans to be prepared by small quantity generators.
(4) All generators and facility operators required to prepare a waste minimization plan shall update annually their waste minimization plan. The annual update shall include at a minimum:
(a) An analysis and quantification of progress made, if any, in waste minimization, relative to each performance goal established under subsection (2)(g) of this section; and
(b) Any amendments to the waste minimization plan and an explanation of the need for the amendments.
(5) For purposes of this section, a generator or facility operator shall permit the department or its designee to review the waste minimization plan.
(6) From the waste minimization plan and each annual update, the generator or facility operator shall submit to the department a certified report of the types and quantities of wastes generated, and the types and quantities of wastes minimized. To the extent practicable, the department shall coordinate the submission of this certified report with other reporting requirements placed on large quantity and small quantity hazardous waste generators and facility operators.
(7) The certified report shall include a narrative summary explaining the waste generation and minimization data, a description of goals and progress made in minimizing the generation of wastes, and a description of any impediments to the minimization of wastes.
SECTION 11. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2006.